The Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Thorhild Widvey, Thursday invited the oil companies to nominate the blocks they think should be included in the 19 ^th> licensing round on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

- It is important to secure the oil industry good access to new exploration acreage. Increased exploration activity in frontier areas is essential in order to make new discoveries and to develop new fields in the future. Today I have sent letters asking for nominations to the 19 ^th> licensing round to all the licensees on the Norwegian continental shelf, Widvey said on Thursday at the annual conference of the Norwegian Oil Industry Association.

The Ministry's decision on which blocks to include in the announcement of the 19 ^th> licensing round will in part be based on the companies' nominations. The announcement of the 19 ^th> licensing round is intended to take place before the summer of 2005, with the award of new production licenses planned for the 1 ^st> quarter of 2006.

The deadline for nominations is 12 AM on 23 February 2005.

The nominations may include areas already opened for petroleum activities in the Norwegian Sea and in the Barents Sea, with the exception of:

• areas already licensed
• areas included in the "Predefined areas"
• especially valuable areas in the Barents Sea; the polar front, the ice edge, Bear Island, Tromsøflaket, as described in the report to the Storting no 38 (2003-04), On Petroleum Activities.
• the coastal areas of Troms and Finnmark
• Nordland VI